6wt for steelhead

[BigHook]

Anyone use a 6wt for low water summer steelies???

[sothereiwas]

Used to do most of my summer steelheading with a 6wt. These days I use a 7 because it turns over the flies better at longer distances.

[Mad Mikey]

Anyone use a 6wt for low water summer steelies???

6 wt. is fine for that. Tippet strength is just as important as your rod weight. If you're swinging flies don't worry about "turning over the fly" either. The current and/or a quick mend will straighten it out, plus you won't need weighted flies in Summer water temps.

[Slow and Low]

6 wt. is fine for that. Tippet strength is just as important as your rod weight. If you're swinging flies don't worry about "turning over the fly" either. The current and/or a quick mend will straighten it out, plus you won't need weighted flies in Summer water temps.

Mikey, you been drinking?

[Slow and Low]

you can do a search. this comes up every year. fish with what you have. if you are outfitting yourself and just looking for info a quick search will get you what you need.

Opinions are like !!

[Mad Mikey]

Mikey, you been drinking?

:confused: ? No, why?

[Slow and Low]

:confused: ? No, why?

turning over big flies and sink tips is pretty important.:twocents:

[BigHook]

Well I dont think Ill be using big flies per se... Some GBS, egg patterns, and flashy stone fly patterns. The only difference between this and my trout set-up is the tippet strength. Think I will give it a go tomorrow morning.
I'll post a pic if I have any success and telly ya how it worked.

[Two Fister]

My only concern with using a light rod for low water fish is that the water temps are likely high enough to stress the fish out if you play them too long. If you are using a rod without enough backbone, or too light of a leader, you are not going to be able to get the fish landed in a timely manner. Fish fought too long in warm water die no matter how long you revive them.

It makes me furious when I see guys taking way longer than necessary to land a fish because they are purposefully fighting steelhead on trout gear and light tippets. Don't kill steelhead because you came to a gunfight armed with a pocketknife...

TF

[BigHook]

My only concern with using a light rod for low water fish is that the water temps are likely high enough to stress the fish out if you play them too long. If you are using a rod without enough backbone, or too light of a leader, you are not going to be able to get the fish landed in a timely manner. Fish fought too long in warm water die no matter how long you revive them.

It makes me furious when I see guys taking way longer than necessary to land a fish because they are purposefully fighting steelhead on trout gear and light tippets. Don't kill steelhead because you came to a gunfight armed with a pocketknife...

TF

Well being Im going to BONK :smash: my fish this doesn't worry me. There really are no native fish in the system Im fishing right now. I think this 6wt. is stiffer than alot of the rods I see guys using for floats.

[Kevin2023]

I think this 6wt. is stiffer than alot of the rods I see guys using for floats.

I have hooked some very fat and angry rainbows up to about 22" on that rod. It should be able to land some summers.

[BigHook]

I have hooked some very fat and angry rainbows up to about 22" on that rod. It should be able to land some summers.

Nice! I think so too. As long as the line is strong enough.

[Mad Mikey]

turning over big flies and sink tips is pretty important.:twocents:

OK, I gotcha' now. I was under the assumption he would be fishing low water(ie: Summer temps/floating lines). to clarify my point. Don't need heavy flies/sinktips for that unless it's a deeper pool mid-day.

As Two Fister said about water temps, you could go heavier. Personally I will NOT fish for steelhead over 65 D F with any rod.

Unless your 6wt. is a noodly little fiber glass rod or a very slow action that should be plenty of backbone in low water as long as your tippet is strong. I can't recall steelhead ever being line shy on the swing in any conditions so a 10 or 12lb tippet will suffice. Use a flouroucarbon tippet if you're really worried about it but, IMO it's not nesessary.

Most of the graphite 6wts. I've fished with have as much backbone as my medium bait caster rods.

I own a 7wt. and 2 8wts.(single handers), the 7wt. has been my go to rod on the Deschutes for 15 years. The 8wts. get used more for sinktips and Winter applications.

You'll get a variety of opinions on this and there will be exceptions to all of them, including mine. :twocents:

[BigHook]

OK, I gotcha' now. I was under the assumption he would be fishing low water(ie: Summer temps/floating lines). to clarify my point. Don't need heavy flies/sinktips for that unless it's a deeper pool mid-day.

As Two Fister said about water temps, you could go heavier. Personally I will NOT fish for steelhead over 65 D F with any rod.

Unless your 6wt. is a noodly little fiber glass rod or a very slow action that should be plenty of backbone in low water as long as your tippet is strong. I can't recall steelhead ever being line shy on the swing in any conditions so a 10 or 12lb tippet will suffice. Use a flouroucarbon tippet if you're really worried about it but, IMO it's not nesessary.

Most of the graphite 6wts. I've fished with have as much backbone as my medium bait caster rods.

I own a 7wt. and 2 8wts.(single handers), the 7wt. has been my go to rod on the Deschutes for 15 years. The 8wts. get used more for sinktips and Winter applications.

You'll get a variety of opinions on this and there will be exceptions to all of them, including mine. :twocents:


Yea i agree the water I'm fishing is 3ft deep max. Floating line is what I'll be using. Tungsten bead head flies w/o added weight will do fine.
The water is below about 51 degrees so no worries about fish being tired... even though Im going to put them in my freezer. :laugh:

I have another 6wt. that is much lighter than this one and have have landed one chinook and one steelhead on it while I was targeting trout.

[Slow and Low]

sorry guys, I forget there are rivers to fish in the summer besides the deschutes.

[Wild Chrome]

I think a 6 is adequate if you have some fish-fighting skills/experience and are targeting fish that aren't likely to exceed 10 or 12 pounds. I've caught quite a few on mine, including on the Deschutes. The biggest thing is to get perpendicular to the fish so you max the rod's ability to tire the fish. I wouldn't go any lighter.

[Carp4Fun]

As a recent fly fishing magazine article duly noted, calling a rod a "six weight" really tells you next to nothing about its actual power. Check out George Anderson’s deflection chart of various eight weights to get an idea of how far across the board the manufacturers fall in action and power: http://yellowstoneangler.com/Photo%20Gallery/DeflectionBig.htm . The only way to know if a rod is enough is to try it.